“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”

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2443568 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.elephantjournal.com%2F2011%2F11%2Falan-watts-occupies-conformity%2FAlan+Watts%3A+the+Meaning+of+Life+is+Simple.2011-11-19+07%3A22%3A44Waylon+Lewishttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.elephantjournal.com%2F%3Fp%3D244356 to “Alan Watts: the Meaning of Life is Simple.”

I think everyone knows the old canard: “If you’re not a liberal when you’re young you have no heart; if you’re not a conservative when you’re old, you have no brain.”

Here’s another good one: “Liberals should define the problems, conservatives should solve them.” (Admittedly, this only works for domestic policy, not foreign.)

Course it’ll never happen. In our atmosphere of cultural warfare, it is virtually impossible for either liberals or conservatives to see anything at all positive in the other side. Alliance? Unthinkable! Not with that guy!

What we need is a TeaParty/Occupy Alliance to tackle bombs and bailouts head on. Like I said, it’ll never happen. I’M NOT LINING UP WITH THOSE GUYS!

G’ mornin’ (morning where I am) ladies and gents. Well, time for another of my bi-weekly insertions of negativity into Ele commentary.

Alan Watts always had some great insights. Like his understanding presented here of the futility of mainstream success.

But he’s also a bit out of date here. There was a time when it was excusable to blame crass consumerism on western culture. But it’s getting clearer all the time that most people of all cultures really want crass consumerism if only they can get it.

All people everywhere are equally in need of a Buddhist/Yogic type understanding. At the same time, there is really no place where very many people prefer to pursue that rather than material gain. We’re all pretty much the same. Human nature rules all cultures. Buddha understood it.

“It’s all just a roller coaster ride. No big deal. Nothing to get too worked up about.”

He wants to make it a better ride. Fair enough. I do, too, even if it’s only an illusion.

His solution, though, requires massive governmental control, ie Big Brother. Guns and jails. “Let’s stop making war (so far so good) and use all that savings to clothe, house, and feed every single person on the planet.”

How ya gonna do that in the real world composed of real people without massive authoritarianism? And of course he is overlooking that, worldwide, the last two decades have seen the greatest rise out of poverty in human history. Can’t fault him much. Virtual all liberals ignore that, or rather are blind to it.